


I Get Along Without You Very Well

by frogeity



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Break Up, F/M, Gen, Pale Romance, Relationship Advice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2011-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-23 11:21:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frogeity/pseuds/frogeity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eridan's lusus taught him two things about romance.</p><p>Unfortunately neither of them helped him very much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Get Along Without You Very Well

Eridan learned two things about romance from his lusus.

The first was contact. You touched your mate, stayed close to them and reminded them of your presence any second you could. You did everything together, learned them until you could move in sync just as easy as breathing.

After hearing this for the first time Eridan was half-perturbed, wondering what it meant when his lusus wrapped his tail around him in a tight hug and nuzzled through his hair- even then, at three sweeps, he had a knack for misinterpreting gestures- and spent several weeks in deep confusion over his guardian's intentions. Particularly after Feferi dragged him beneath the waves to show him a seahorse giving birth, so -----EXCITED to have him see this miniature version of his lusus. They watched as he spat them all out of his belly, from the pouch his lusus had carried him in as a wriggler as they flew through sky and sea, and then...left them. Ignored them.

When he finally confessed his fears to her, she laughed and laughed and _laughed_ , and told him he was _SO GLUBBING STUPID ---ERIDAN, that is what a lusus is supposed to do!_ Be his, forever and ever, until the tides ceased to flow and the oceans dried up, look after him, carry him and rock him when he was sad and lick away his tears when he cried. Burning with hot shame and guilt, Eridan ran home and flung himself at his seahorse father and ranted about stupid empresses to be wwho glubbin think they knoww more about evverythin than ANYBODY, listening as the monster chirped and held him tight.

\------------

"No one fuckin wwants me near them, Fef," he complained, his face buried in her lap. He ignored the hands pushing lightly at his shoulders, his arms, trying to break the death grip his arms had on her waist. "Not for nothing. Wwhen I take one step forwward they take twwo steps back."

But _she_ never pushed him away, and a moment later she sighed, and gave up, sliding her own arms back around him and threading her hands through his hair, just like he wanted her to.

"It's because you keep threatening to decimate them!" she said. She never said he made her uncomfortable. She never asked him to move out of her space or stop touching her, like everyone else he'd met had. Maybe she came over less and less these days, but she'd never physically pushed him away. "We aren't better than anybody! If you want them to hang out with you maybe you should give up on all these stupid plots!"

He pushed his face deeper into her thighs, and sighed in frustration.

"I know you don't fuckin get it and you don't evver fuckin agree wwith me but you got to understand, that is IMPORTANT."

"GLUB GLUB GLUB!" she snapped. "Well then I don't know what to tell you!"

\------------

The second thing he learned, the most important thing, was to keep your mate's attention. Make a show, keep them looking your way, no matter what you had to do to keep it that way. If they looked at someone else? You took care of that right quick, with force if you had to, reminding them that they were _yours_ and no one else's and they had no cause to be straying too far. His lusus demonstrated this with a flash of white teeth that nearly snagged his shirt, nipping so close to him that he jumped back in fright and ended up falling over flat on his ass in the sand. His lusus warbled with laughter as he shouted and tried to smooth down his flared facial fins with his hands, to hide just how startled he'd been.

\-----------

As mating rituals went, threatening to wipe out most of your species was a pretty big gesture.

Eridan had been so sure that one day she'd wake up and see that none of the doomsday devices had ever been for real. None of the plans were ever supposed to work, because he'd set them up that way, for _her_. She'd wake up and see- him, threatening to tear everything down around their gills while keeping it safe, just for her- him, letting himself be battered by the storm of the world, torn between the expectations of his caste and his dedication to her.

And when she finally looked his way, she'd see someone worth being a little ruddy for. He substituted a rifle for claws and shot lightning through the sky and hoped like hell his aim was true. Eridan Ampora was gunning for her heart, and nothing on land or sea could stop him.

\------------

 **  
CA: dont you think theres room in your collapsin and expandin bladder based aquatic vascular system for those feelins   
CC: I've never had a chance to consider anything like that! I have just spent all my time worrying about you and trying to keep you from killing everybody or hurting yourself.  
CC: It took all my energy.  
CC: I don't think I have anything left for those feelings either.   
**

\------------

When the power of a thousand angels blasted through her chest, Eridan thought that for the first time she was really and truly looking at him.

He'd finally gotten her attention.


End file.
